


We Hope

by SpaceWall



Series: Love and Flowers [2]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Hope, Hopeful Ending, Love Confessions, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Mutual Pining, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 16:25:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11993529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceWall/pseuds/SpaceWall
Summary: Runs parallel to 'A Meaning for Flowers', but is better read second, 'We Hope' is inspired by, and following a scene in the S1 Episode When The Bow Breaks. It focuses on Picard and Riker, but mostly on Riker. The tags make it seem really angst, but it's not actually that bad it's just that Riker is kind of a drama queen.Featuring: Riker and Troi: Bros For Life, Deanna Troi: (fed-up relationship) counsellor, William Riker: a romantic at heart, and Jean-Luc Picard: too cute for anyone's good.





	We Hope

Will does not imagine the flowers to be a Big Deal. Maybe that’s because his life is weird now, and in the grand scheme of things, Jean-Luc passing off some alien flowers is not that weird. Not as weird as an alien planet which is essentially Atlantis taking the ship’s children, Hansel and Gretel style. And definitely not as weird as the conversation he has with Data shortly after. The android actually comes to his room, unrequested and unannounced, to ask him a question.

“Commander Riker, can you please explain to me the role that flowers play in human social relations?”

Will gives the flowers, sitting in a vase on a table beside him, a side eye. “Well Data, flowers can mean lots of things. I mean, you could give a flower to someone you were interested in-” Not likely.- “Or, you know, for thanks or whatever.”

Data tilts his chin a little up and to the left. It’s a quirk that never ceases to confuse Will. Somehow, despite being a totally human quirk, in Data it manages to actually make him look more robotic than usual. Maybe its that when he does it, his focus doesn’t seem to follow his face. It’s an imitation, not the real thing. Thoughtlessly, Will reaches out to stroke at one of the flower petals, and wonders if Data is done. 

“Commander Riker, if I were to be… interested in someone, would presenting them with a flower be an appropriate response?”

Will is not having this conversation. Will is not giving an android love life advice. No fucking way. That is definitely Deanna’s job. Suddenly, his mind is filled with the possibility of Data and Tasha Yar spending all day flirting on the bridge. He’s pretty sure there’s something going on there, and while Data is, at the very least, always professional, Yar definitely seems to Will like the kind of person who would flirt on duty. Will does not want to deal with any of this.

“I’ll tell you what, Data. Why don’t you take a flower, and go give it to the person you’re interested in, and see what she thinks?” Will waggles his eyebrows suggestively for added effect. 

“Commander-”

“Data, sooner rather than later.” Will plucks a flower from the vase, one of the nice ones, and hands it to Data. Looking a little flustered- huh-, Data accepts the flower automatically. Will has to make a sort-of shooing gesture to get him through the door. Once he’s gone, Will goes about his business, and for a few blissful hours, he forgets that the whole ever happened. And then the bridge gets weird.

To start with, Yar and Data are acting totally normally. That may not seem weird, but if nothing’s happened between the two of them, that means that something else must be happening to throw the balance of the crew off. LaForge has started alternating between darting his gaze furtively around the bridge and staring at his console like it’s wronged him and his whole family. And then there’s Deanna. She’s started giving Will knowing looks. Will knows Deanna, and those looks are Bad News. Periodically, he thinks he sees her casting the looks at Jean-Luc too, and wonders what the Captain has done to inspire such interest. She glances towards LaForge as well, but only when he’s not looking, and her looks for him always seem a little sad. Will hopes that whatever LaForge is feeling to make Deanna give him sad eyes works itself out, but really, just because he can read Deanna doesn’t make it his business. Of course, this is not Deanna’s philosophy. 

“Will, I feel something… distracting you.”

Will hums noncommittally in response. She probably feels how weird everyone else has been lately. The Turbolift moves down, and there’s a breath of silence.

“Will, are you engaged with the captain?” Will spins around to face Deanna so fast he almost miscalculates and trips over his own feet.

“No!” And his voice is just a little high, and Deanna can literally read people’s emotions, and Will has never felt so much like he’s been caught with his pants down until this very second.

“Will,” says Deanna- her voice is far too comforting. “You do not have to feel ashamed about this. If you and he have become engaged in-”

The turbolift door slides open, and Will, who is sure there has never been a face more red than his in this exact moment, practically pulls Deanna all the way to his quarters.

“We’re not engaged in anything.” He blurts the second the door is slammed. “Nothing at all. He’s not interested in me. He’s interested in Dr. Crusher when the two of them can manage to be in the same room together. And when they can’t, he’s interested in culture, and the pursuit of professionalism, and captaining a starship.”

“And you.” Deanna is speaking in soothing tones. “Will, he is also very much interested in you. I can feel it.”

“Deanna.” Will knows he sounds childish, but if you can’t be childish in front of your best friend, who can you be childish in front of. “It’s not like that. He’s my friend. So are you.”

“And the whole ship thinks we’re dating.”

“And you think Jean-Luc and I are dating. It’s the same thing. Just friendship.”

Deanna gets that gleam of triumph in her eye. “I am not the rest of the ship Will, I can feel-”

Will groans, and sinks to the floor with his head in his hands. Deanna, to her further credit as a friend, sinks with him so they’re sitting on the floor of his room together. Will doesn’t deserve her. They’re quiet for a while, and Deanna slides in to rest her head on his shoulder. Will knows that she can feel him, so he shows her a little bit of the insecurity, of the fear, that he’s feeling. Deanna pulls him closer. 

“I don’t deserve either of you,” Will whispers into her hair. 

“You deserve to be loved.” And God, there is no man or woman alive who can be both scary and heart wrenchingly honest like Deanna Troi. “And Jean-Luc and I both love you. Very much.”

“I don’t know if he can ever love me back the way I love him.”

Deanna slides up to press their faces together. With anyone else, this would seem inordinately intimate. With Deanna, it feels like being loved. “He can, and that scares you too.” She whispers it, and her breath is soft on Will’s skin. Like starlight. Like standing on an observation deck and feeling the universe seep into you. And that’s who Deanna is to Will. She’s home anywhere in the universe. Jean-Luc is an adventure in this great beyond.

“Yes.” The admission hangs in the air, twisting and spiraling so they can admire it from all angles.

“I love you.” The reminder shouldn’t be necessary, but it is. In this moment, it really, really is. 

“I love you too.” And Will thinks about the feeling. About this platonic love that is the center of his whole universe, but may be becoming part of a binary system with another love. Deanna runs a hand along his arm, and comes to a stop at his hand, where they entwine their fingers in a way that is familiar, but always a little new. 

“You should tell Jean-Luc how you feel.” When Will just sighs, she adds “You know he’ll never initiate that. He wouldn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable, and he doesn’t have me to tell him how you feel.”

“Maybe you should.”

Deanna looks up at Will with a twinkle in her eye. “And where would the fun be in that?” She actually reaches up to tweak his nose teasingly. It’s a silly gesture, but sweet.

“He gave me flowers, Deanna.” Will says it a little helplessly. “He gave me flowers in front of the whole bridge crew, and I think it was just him being sweet, but Data noticed. If Data noticed, the whole bridge crew probably did. And there’s no way Jean-Luc would be comfortable with the whole crew knowing about us. If there was an us.”

“Will, if there was a you and he, the Captain wouldn’t lie to the crew about it. You’d probably file the requisite paperwork and all of Starfleet would know by the end of the week. Have you even met the man? As for Data, if he said a word about anything he knew, I would be… surprised. This should not bother you as much as it does.”

“If there was a me and him, it wouldn’t bother me at all.”

Deanna is the one who hums this time, and they sit there for a long time, saying a lot with very little.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Will spends the next day trying to pretend everything is just fine. Being jovial with Jean-Luc, and mostly professional with everyone else. Until Lieutenant LaForge corners him in the hallway. LaForge is never an intimidating figure, but with a crazed demeanor about him, Will has to stop himself from taking a step back. 

“What do flowers mean?” LaForge is on the verge of wringing his hands like Will’s old grandma. 

“I’m sorry?” It’s almost funny.

LaForge doesn’t seem to think so. “You heard what I said. Flowers. When someone gives you flowers, what do they mean?”

If Will had been thinking, he might have heard that the ‘you’ in that sentence clearly meant LaForge, not him, but all he can’t think is- oh no, oh no, oh please not this.- For a second, his brain totally shuts down, and then he remembers. You are William Riker. Nothing gets to you. Not even this. That’s your job. Find a way to deflect.

“Not you too. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I am not here to give anyone relationship advice. I am not sleeping with the captain, and no it is not any of your business.”  
Smooth, Will. Subtle.

LaForge recoils with a confused look on his face. If Will didn’t know better, he’d think LaForge was scandalised. “Data asked you if you were sleeping with the Captain?”

“No, Deanna-” wait he didn’t know. He didn’t already know. Damn it. “Wait, what are you talking about?”

“What are you talking about? I just want to know what it means when you get anonymous flowers from your best friend and he doesn’t ever talk to you about it.” 

Preaching to the choir, aren’t we LaForge? God. It’s like a taunt. Will didn’t think people on the crew would react by being mocking. He didn’t think that was who these people were. 

“It’s hardly anonymous if he hands them to you on the bridge in front of everyone and people keep asking you about it.” 

“What if he leaves them in front of your quarters without so much as a note?”

And everything clicks into place for Will in a glorious moment of clarity. Data asking about the flowers. LaForge’s weird glances and frustrated stares. Deanna watching LaForge. It’s not him and Jean-Luc that have been making things weird. At least, not totally. There is another love story going on here, and from the sounds of it, it’s going just as badly as Will’s. Poor LaForge. 

“This is a conversation we shouldn’t be having where everyone can hear.” Will is not letting the whole crew find out about his crush on Jean-Luc. But LaForge seems trustworthy enough, and if Will knows about him and Data, then at least they can have a sort of Mutually Assured Destruction. LaForge looks scared by this statement, and Will thinks he might have an inkling of what Deanna feels like on a day-to-day basis. 

LaForge follows mutely to Will’s room. He looks like he’s marching to an execution. Will almosts feels guilty about this. Nobody should look like that when all they’re hoping for is love. And yet. Is this not how Will felt when Deanna had called him out? Full of shame and embarrassment. Confused. Hopeless. When they get into Will’s room, he pulls a chair back, and LaForge sits down mutely. 

“Relax,” says Will, in his best impression of Deanna being soothing. LaForge does not appear soothed. 

“Commander Riker-”

“Will.”

“Will, what the hell is going on here?”

Will rubs his palm with his thumb, and tries not look irritated. “Geordi- can I call you Geordi?” A nod. “You’re in love with Data?” Embarrassment, irritation, but again, a nod. “And he gave you flowers?”

“Someone left them outside my door. It has to have been him. There’s- nobody else.”

“And you think he loves you too?” God. This is so not Will’s job. Deanna would be better qualified, or Jean-Luc, or hell, maybe LaForge could just talk to Data, and someone on this ship could have a meaningful, adult conversation about a shared relationship for once. 

LaForge looks at his hands. Will feels bad for asking. “He can’t, can he? Love anyone I mean, not just me. Data even says so.”

This must be what talking to Will is like for Deanna on days when he feels unlovable. Only conceptually, most days, Will can get around the ideas that he is lovable, because love is real. Even if it hasn’t happened to him, it’s not technically impossible. It only feels that way. In this moment, LaForge doesn’t even have that. What an odd pair they must be. So different, and yet, there’s this thing between them now.

“Are you sure?”

“He’s sure.” And if that wasn’t what mattered to him, LaForge wouldn’t be the sort of person to fall in love with an android in the first place. 

“I know how that feels.” Says Will, and then, in low tones, he tells LaForge everything.

With this new fledgling of a friendship, Will finds himself inserted into some of the best drama the Enterprise has to offer. He wonders if LaForge- Geordi- feels the same, but knows that he probably doesn’t, when, after bridge duty the next day, he finds himself standing in the ready room next to Jean-Luc and Deanna, facing down Geordi and Data. 

“You two are…” Jean-Luc says, with a near disbelieving look on his face. The Captain, Will reminds himself. At work, he’s always The Captain. 

“Engaged in a romantic relationship,” Data states clearly.

“Dating,” mutters Geordi, but there’s no heat to it. Simply a suggestion. 

“And you have decided to tell us because…” The Captain has a little bit of menace in his voice, but mostly, it seems to Will like genuine curiosity. 

This sets Data off on what looks like it’s going to be a long tangent about starfleet regulations on interpersonal relations. Will stops him before he’s gotten to whatever the consequences are supposed to be. 

“Could I have a moment with the captain, please?” Will’s voice must come off as pleading.

Everyone in the room turns to look at Will. Data and the Captain look confused. LaForge looks hopeful, and Deanna is smirking. It’s a good thing nobody else is looking at her, or they’d all be fleeing for their lives. Data and Geordi file out, and Will imagines that Geordi will explain all of this to Data at some later date. Deanna takes a second to go, and she looks at Will. He knows that she wishes him all the good in the world. But in this instant, it isn’t about him. Not yet. 

“Stay.” He directs the comment at Deanna. She looks like she’s about to beg off, so Will continues. “Nothing is happening to LaForge and Data. They were honest. There’s no crime there. Neither of them would use this in any way that could harm the ship. They were close before, they’re just differently close now.”

“Commander Riker,” Captain Picard says. There is hardly a trace of Will’s friend in his voice, and the tone is harsh. Will knows he’s being irrational but he does not care. 

“If starfleet regulations state that bridge crew being close like that is immoral, then you may as well take my resignation here and now.” This is not the sort of kindness Will shows in public. Not ever. But he would happily resign over something like this. At heart, he’s a romantic. He still believes that exploring the universe can be all about love. 

“And mine.” Says Deanna forcefully. She’s a romantic too, but unlike Will, she wouldn’t be a hypocrite for not resigning. Unlike Will, she’s not actually in violation of this very rule. 

Picard stands so he can be if not at eye level with Will, at least closer. He rubs his face with his hand. When he speaks it is slow and clear. “Number One, Councillor, we all know that you’re in a relationship. I have all the required paperwork filled out, and it’s waiting for your signatures. I know that it’s hard to have a new relationship governed by such rules, which is why I’ve been waiting for you to come to me. It may require some maneuvering, but as long as Starfleet can be convinced that there is no manipulation of power dynamics in the relationship, you’ll be fine. Given Counsellor Troi’s-” 

“Captain,” they say in unison. Boy is that disconcerting.

“We’re not in a relationship,” explains Deanna in that calming tone of hers. The Captain turns to look at her, and it’s all Jean-Luc now. If Will didn’t know better, he’d think he saw a glimmer of hope in Jean-Luc’s eyes. 

“Then why do you feel a need to resign over this?”

“It is a matter of principle.” Deanna says, still all soothing voice. “In Betazoid culture, to deny such strong emotion, such range and depth of feeling-” She shakes her head. 

“Number One?”

Will uses every ounce of courage he has. Every bit of the reserve built by talking to Deanna and Geordi. “I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t, Jean-Luc. If they’re going to be shamed for love, I’m owed the same sentence.”

“I don’t understand, Number One.”

Will fights to stay composed. He didn’t want to do this now, or ever, but especially not at a time like this. Not in anger. “I love someone on this crew, Jean-Luc. I love him very much, and if we’re going to accuse people of being unfit to serve because of romantic attachments, then I should be suspect number one.”-ha, Number One- “This is a witch hunt, and I’ve been dancing with the devil. Light the pyre.”

“I didn’t know Lieutenant LaForge meant this much to you.”

“We barely know one another.” This is not really about Geordi, after all. He’s only tangential to everything Will has been feeling for so long now. 

“You must love him very much to fight for his right to be with another man.”

Will and Jean-Luc stare at one another blankly. Deanna laughs. At first, it’s dainty, but the longer the silence goes, the more hysterical she gets. Eventually, she simply begs her leave, and walks out.

Will takes this slowly. He does his best impression of Deanna. “I am not in love with Geordi. I am also not in love with Deanna, or Data, or any of them.” Here, Will gestures in the general direction of the bridge. “Don’t misunderstand, I love them, this ship, this crew, this job- but I’m not in love with any of them.”

“You just told me-”

“I’m not in love with any of them.” Not only is the cat out of the bag, but it’s also scratched Will on the way out, and now he’s bleeding all over the place. 

Jean-Luc is quiet for a long time. A really long time. It’s the kind of quiet where you can hear your own breath. Will’s heart pounds against his chest. This is the worst possible outcome. Will is sure. He’ll resign, and Data and Geordi will be fired, and then something horrible will happen to the ship, and everyone will die. Or something. 

“Are you saying?” Jean-Luc gestures at himself. Will just nods, mutely. Jean-Luc looks down. He taps the desk. He runs a hand over his head. Will can’t look at him any more, and moves to leave. 

Like lightning, Jean-Luc’s hand is on his shoulder. It’s such a fast gesture that Will actually jumps. “Number One,” he murmurs, and God, that voice is perfect. Will could listen to him forever. “Don’t go.”

Will’s body is urging him to flee, but with Herculean effort, he turns back to face Jean-Luc. That’s when he sees it. Finally, Deanna would say if she were here. There is unspeakable longing in Jean-Luc’s eyes too. 

“Oh,” whispers Will, and he leans in so Jean-Luc is no more than a couple centimeters away from him. This close, they can feel one another breathing, and Will is sure that Jean-Luc must be able to hear his heartbeat, because it is pounding out of his chest. And-

“I would have been a hypocrite too.” Jean-Luc closes the gap to place his hand on Will’s chest. 

In a mutual agreement, they both lean together, and it’s less a kiss- though it is that too- than it is full body touching. Will runs his hands over Jean-Luc’s arms, and Jean-Luc reaches up to feel his hair.

“I’ve been thinking about this since I first got to the enterprise.” Will confesses when they break apart. 

“I thought you were with Troi.”

Will shakes his head sadly. “Everyone does. I think everyone forgets that plenty of species believe in platonic life partners. I love Deanna. I’d die for her. But that’s not romantic, it’s just that she understands me. Better than anyone else in the world.”

Jean-Luc taps his fingertips lightly on the back of Will’s head, and nods. He’s spectacular.

“I thought you were with Dr. Crusher.”

Jean-Luc laughs into Will’s chest. “I’m not.”

“I know. “

It’s a long silence, but not. The ship hums, the people on it move around. The two of them breathe. Somewhere out there, Geordi and Data must be wondering what their fate will be. Will hopes they’re doing that together. Somewhere out there, Deanna is probably listening in, unintentionally, relieved by the sudden release of emotional tension. Far away, but close, there is a whole crew going about their days. These are people who look to Jean-Luc, to Will, to make sure that they are safe. Beyond all this, there are millions of lightyears of undiscovered space. Just waiting. New experiences and species and cultures laid out like a thousand sparkling diamonds. And they’ll get there. For now, however, they’re not going anywhere. 

They pull back a little, and Will has to smile. Jean-Luc is remarkably beautiful. Especially now, when he’s smiling too. 

“What now?” murmurs Will. If he had his way, the next step would be to stay here for a long time, and then perhaps to reassure Geordi and Data. Later, much after that, he would sit down, with Deanna, and begrudgingly admit that she was right. Perhaps.

“We do what everyone else does, Number One,” Jean-Luc says, in his captain voice, but with a twinkle of light in his eyes to let Will know that he’s laughing. “We hope.” 

That’s good enough for him.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm probably not going to write more in this universe, but I just wanted to thank you guys for following it through. You're the best. Next: Game of Thrones, maybe?


End file.
